An aggrieved patient has dragged privately-owned Mwaiwathu Hospital and one of its hired doctors to court, seeking aggravated damages amounting to K20 million due to the hospital and the doctor’s negligence.

Malawi’s Mwaiwathu Hospital is its leading specialist hospital, located in Blantyre the southern region of Malawi in Southern Africa.

Meanwhile, both the hospital and the doctor, Gynaecologist Chisale Mhango are facing another battle on contempt of court for not complying with an Anton Pillar Order the High Court in Blantyre issued to the patient, Tanangachi Veruwa last week to seize all her medical records currently in the hands of the hospital and the doctor.

Lawsuit

Veruwa through her lawyer Ambokire Salimu of Salimu & Associates last week filed a lawsuit against the hospital and doctor Mhango following gynaecological complications she developed after undergoing a surgery at the hospital administered by the doctor last year.

According to documents filed at the High Court, Veruwa- married with two children- has a history of miscarriages and during her second child’s pregnancy- last year- she decided to seek a professional help from Mwaiwathu Private Hospital where doctor Mhango performed a cervical cerclage- a placement of stitches in the cervix.

The procedure was to be reversed once Veruwa was about to deliver. And according to documents, the doctor assured her during one of the consultations that the stitches were removed and that she would deliver normally.

However, that was not the case as she was forced to deliver through a caesarean procedure (C-section) since the stitches had blocked the cervix.

The documents reveal that the stitches were later on removed by another gynaecologist at the same Mwaiwathu Private Hospital.

Since then, Veruwa developed gynaecological complications, forcing her to seek other medical assistance. The complications have also put her on the risk of developing cervical cancer.

And in an interview, lawyer Ambokire Salimu told Nyasa Times that his client decided to take legal action after both the hospital and doctor failed to provide convincing response to her demand letter on the issue.

“In fact we wrote them a demand letter, and the hospital said is not concerned. They advised us to go ahead with the case against the doctor, arguing that he works at the hospital as independent consultant and that he has personal insurance and medical council registration,” explained Salimu.

He added that doctor Mhango through his lawyers of Churchill Norris and Foster also denied liability but conceded to have left the stitches on the patient despite an earlier assurance that they were removed.

“They argued that he left the stitches because she might have needed them for her next pregnancy. But all along she had been told the stitches were removed before delivery. It was until another
gynaecologist at the hospital confirmed the stitches were still there and he removed them,” explained Salimu.

Lawyer, Tamando Chokhotho of Churchill Norris and Foster refused to comment on the issue when contacted.

“I don’t have any instructions to talk to the press,” said Chokhotho when contacted about the lawsuit and the contempt of court case.

Salimu said they have sued both the hospital and the doctor since the patient’s contract was with the hospital and not individual doctor, and that the doctor was hired by the hospital and not his client.

Contempt of Court

Aside from fighting the lawsuit on the aggravated damages Veruwa has filed, Mwaiwathu Private Hospital and doctor Mhango have been embroiled in another court battle after they refused to comply with an Anton Pillar Order the High Court issued last week, allowing Veruwa to search and seize, without notice, all her medical records currently in the hands of the hospital and the doctor.

Salimu disclosed that they have since applied for leave for committal- contempt of court proceedings- through which doctor Mhango and the hospital’s administrators might be committed to prison for disobeying an order of the court.

As the debate about this case continues the following information about this lawyer involved in this case may be useful:- 1. The lawyer runs a debt collection firm Dr Chisale Mhango (yes the same Dr Chisale Mhango being sued by the lawyer) used this firm to collect debt from a third party. After the money had been collected the firm failed to hand over the money to Dr Mhango. Dr Mhango had to use the intervention of the Malawi Law Society to force Salimu’s firm to hand over the money. A coincidence? 2. This lawyer is a certified domestic violence… Read more »

Shirodkar cerclage (Cervical Cerclage) This procedure is done through the vagina, which is held open with a speculum. It is a modified version of the McDonald where the stitch is placed as high as possible above the junction of the cervix with the vagina, under the bladder. This allows for higher placement at the internal cervical opening in order to hold the cervix closed during pregnancy. Some surgeons might modify this technique and make it a permanent knot , meaning that the suture would stay intact for life and the pregnant woman would require a C-section for each delivery. Other… Read more »

I must admit sometimes Mwaiwathu can be negligent if not ignorant. I remember sometime back my daughter had a cough. Upone xlays at the hospital, we were advised that she had chest infections and the heart had swollen needing operation. The dates were set and the theater was booked for the day of operation. Having been around a patient who had a swollen heart before, I was reluctant to go for the operation so I went to BAH for second opinion, after xlays there, to my dismay the doctors laughed off the idea and gave me antibiotics. To this day… Read more »

Waste of time by both the patient and the lawyer I think the woman has history of misc. I have ever never commented at social media but good people let us not show Docs are more educated whilst COs are not or this and that not good ,ok? First of all we go to mwaiwathu/BAH for fast attention there as it takes about less than 5 minutes to be attended to and most specialists at these pvt.hospitals are from Queens or KCN only that they have an agreement between Docs and these facilities and mind you almost all these Professors,doctors… Read more »